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Why I am running!

Meet Miguel

Miguel was born in the Chihuahuan Desert and was brought to the beautiful city of Denver before his second birthday.

His mother was a community organizer in Mexico. In Denver, she was a custodian at Miguel’s elementary school.

His father was a hibachi chef at the Gasho of Japan. He always had an entrepreneurial spirit.

After years of hard work, sacrifice, dedication, and help from restaurateurs Felipe and Oralia Duran they were able to open a Mexican restaurant in the East Colfax neighborhood. Miguel spent his teenage years working in the family business, Casa del Sol Mexican Restaurant, as a dishwasher, prep cook, server, and eventually was a manager. Here he learned hard work and respect for the working class.

Unfortunately the family business did not make it through tough economic times and was sold in 2006, barely saving the family from bankruptcy. Miguel was the one who found a buyer for his family’s business, which allowed for his mother to put a down payment on a home. Everything else the family had worked so hard for had been lost. Miguel dreams of opening a small Mexican Restaurant when he reaches retirement age.

About

Dear People of Denver,

This summer, I filed paperwork to run for Denver City Council District 8. I respectfully ask that you consider giving me the chance to earn your vote. I am tired of seeing the displacement of the working class in my city—displacement that has disproportionately hit communities of color the worst. It is a shame that the most vulnerable in our city, those who need the most help, are the ones being shoved out the door. I ask: where are we supposed to go?

Denver is on the path to be an exclusive city for the privileged. I represent the working class that Denver has failed to provide enough affordable housing for. The unaffordability of housing in our city has been allowed to reach a dangerous level. Now even teachers, firefighters, and educated millennials often cannot afford to buy a home in Denver. Doubling the number of affordable housing units built in Denver will be among my top priorities as your city council member.

My family moved to Montbello when I was 4. I attended Montbello High School and later graduated from Emily Griffith. I spent my teenage years working at my family’s business: Casa Del Sol Mexican Restaurant, which was located across the street from today’s boundaries of Denver’s City Council District 8, in the East Colfax neighborhood at the corner of Spruce and E. Colfax. I grew up with a connection to both corners of District 8. I do not want to see the East Colfax corridor become the next target of massive displacement. I believe, that there exists in this area a unique opportunity to come up with a new model of inclusion and equity, one that steers away from the current model of displacement and gentrification that we have seen in other neighborhoods of Denver. I want residents of Park Hill, East Colfax, and Montbello, who have helped make our communities the attractive cultural strongholds that they are today, to be able to remain in our communities.

Miguel is Restless!

Miguel in front of his family home in Montbello

State wide director for Voter Registration CDP 2017-2018

Deputy Second VIce-Chair of the Colorado Democratic Party 2017-2018

Latino Advocacy Day at the State Capitol 2017

DENVER, CO – JANUARY: taking part in the Denver Women’s March on January 20, 2018 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post)